In the creation of many goods such as shoes, certain car seats and even luggage, hides of various animal are used. Although a majority of the hides are of similar size and shape, the nesting of parts to be cut from the hide requires a knowledge of the particular periphery and flaws in the hide.
Traditionally, a hide is disposed on a support surface and inspected by an operator. The operator identifies the periphery and relevant flaws. The operator then manually places patterns of the parts on the hide and cuts the hide accordingly. However, this method is extremely labor intensive and time consuming. This increases the cost of the resulting goods. In addition, skilled operators must be employed to enhance the number of parts that may be cut from a given hide, as costs are also increased when the hide, is not efficiently employed.
Other material such as high end patterned sheet material that is relatively expensive, and custom made sheet materials are often subject to irregularities that preclude fully automated mass handling and processing.
To assist in the handling and processing of such sheet material, prior systems have employed a camera sufficiently spaced from a support surface to allow a single picture to encompass the entire area of the sheet material. While these systems allow an operator to view the entire sheet material, there is insufficient resolution to allow details to be determined. Alternatively, if high resolution cameras are employed, the cameras are prohibitively expensive.
Therefore, a need exists for a system of acquiring and presenting a display of a sheet material to an operator, wherein the display has sufficient resolution to allow for accurate placement of parts to be cut, as well as identification of flaws. The need further exists for such a system that employs commercially available and economically feasible components, while providing a higher resolution than previously available with comparable components.